The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-11-30
Some Strange Antipathies.


Peter the Great, the father Of the Rus
sian navy, should shudder at the sight Of
water, whether running or still, yet so
it was, especially when alone. His
palace gardens. beautiful though they
were, he never entered. because the
river Mosera flowed through them.
His coachman had orders 10 avoid all
roads which led past streams, and u
compelled to cross brook or bridge,
the great emperor would st with closed
windows in cold perspiration. An
other.monarch, James /. the English
Solomon, as he liked to be called, had
many antipathes, chiefly Tobacco, ling
and pork. He never overoame his in
ability to look with composure at
drawn sword; and it is said that on one
occasion, when giving the accoladc, the
king turned his face aside, nearly
wounding the new-made knight. Hen
~ III. of France, had so great dis.
like for cats that he tainted ut the
sight of one. We suppose that in this
case the cat had 70 waive its proverb-
ial preogative and could not look at
king. This will seem as absurd as ex-
traordnary to lady lovers OF that much
petted animal, but what are we to say
of the countess of Lambelle, OF whose
unhappy history, to whom violet was
a thing Of horrorp Even this Is moi
without its precedent, for it Is on rec.
cord that Vincent the painter was seiz'
ed with vertigo and swooned at the
smell of roses. Scaliger states that
one of his relations was made Ill at the
sight of lily. and he himself would
turn pale at the sight Of water-cresses,
and could never drink milk.
Charles Kingsley, naturalist as he wa.
to the core, had a great horror Of
spiders; and in "Glaucus," after say
ing that every one seems to have his
ant pathetic animal, continues: 81
know one (himselD bred from his child.
hood to zoology by land and sea, and
bold in asserting and honest in feeling
that all without exception is beautiful,
who yet cannot, after handling and
petting and examining, all day long,
every uncouth and venomous beast,
avoid paroxysm of horror at the sight
of n common house-spider
The writer shares in this dislike to
painful extent; in this case 1t Is Inherit
ed from his grandfather. The genial
author of the Turkish Spy" says that
he would far prefer sword in hand to
face q lion in his desert lair than to
have spider crawl over him in the
dark. The cat, as we have previously
mentioned, has repeatedly been an OBJ
iect of aversion. The Duke OF Schom-
berg, though redoubtable soldier,
would not sit in the same room with u
cat. A courtier of the emperor Ferdi-
nand carried this dislike SO far as to
bleed at the nose on hearing a cat NEW.
A well-known officer of her majesty S
army, who has proved his strength and
courage in more than one campaign,
turns pale at the sight of cat On
one occasion when out to dinner, his
host, who was rather skeptcal as to
the reality of his feelings, concealed a
cat in an ottoman in the dining-room
Dinner was announced, but his guest
was evidently i'll at ease; and at length
declared his inability TO 20 on eating,
as he was sure there was cat in the
room. An apparently thorough, blu t
unavailing search was made; but his
visitor was so upset that the host, with
many apologies for his experiment,
..let the cat out of the bag" and out
of the ottoman at the same time. Lord
Lauderdale, on the other hand. doclar-
ed that the mewing of cat was to him
sweeter than any music, while he had
the greatest dislike to the lutte and the
bagpipe. In this latter aversion he
was by no means singular. Dogs too
have come in for their share Of dislike,
DeMusset cordially detestod them.
When a candidate for the academy he
called on prominent member AT
the gate Of the chateau dirty. ugly
dog received him most affectlonately,
and insisted on preceding him into
the drawing room. DeMusset cursing
his friends prediction for the brute.
The academician entered and they
adjourned to the dining-room, the dog at
. their heels. Selling his opportunity
the dog placed his muddy paws upon
Che spoiless cloth and carried of a
bonne-bouche. 1.-THE wretch wants
shootingr' was DeMusset's muttered
: thought, but he politely said
"You are fond of dogs, 1 seeP"
Fond of dogs" retorled the acade.
mician, II hate them"
But this animal hereP" queried De-
, Musset.
81 have only tolerated it because
thought it was yours, SIR"
. "Mine" exclaimed the poet: 1.-THE
thought that 1t was yours alone KEEP
me from killing himT"-E1.